A Lake County grand jury on Wednesday indicted the parents of a severely battered 15-month-old baby girl on charges they conspired to murder her, authorities said.
Cherrie Sargent, 20, and Jared Gaines, 22, both of the 2400 block of Dugdale Road, Waukegan, were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery to a child, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Atty. Jim Simonian.
Sargent admitted to police that she and Gaines had tried to kill their daughter, Loressa, on numerous occasions by dropping her, shaking her and attempting to smother her, according to Steve Scheller, chief of felony review for the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.
Loressa, who spent her first year at Condell Memorial Hospital in Libertyville because of a respiratory ailment, was discharged into her parents’ care on Jan. 28, according to Simonian. Two days later she was rushed to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago with multiple broken bones, a broken vertebra, a fractured skull and head injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome, Simonian said.